The inability and unwillingness of the Nigerian government to stop the recurring spree of killings in Benue State is a clear derogation from its primary constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property, Initiative for Human Rights and Gender Awareness (IHRGA), has said.
IHRGA said this in a statement while reacting to last Friday’s coordinated attack on Yelwata, Guma Local Government Area (LGA), Benue State, where over 200 innocent lives were gruesomely cut short by armed herdsmen.
Publicity Manager of the organisation, Tavershima Yachiga, in a statement made available to TNT called on the Federal Government to act with the urgency that the matter demands “or history will judge this administration as complicit in the wave of genocide sweeping through Tiv land.
According to the statement, IHRGA is “horrified and deeply outraged by the brutal killings that occurred on the 13th-14th of June, 2025, in Yelwata, Guma Local Government of Benue State, where over 200 innocent lives were gruesomely cut short by armed herdsmen.”
The statement adds that the “barbaric act of violence represents not just an attack on a community but a trampling on the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).”
While condemning the killings, IHRGA is demanding that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu visit Benue State to assess the security situation in the state, condole with the people, and to assure them of the Federal Government’s commitment to ending the carnage.
They are also demanding for all security agencies to coordinate, track down, arrest, and prosecute the perpetrators of the heinous crimes against humanity as well as immediate provision of humanitarian assistance to survivors, including medical care, temporary shelter, food, and psychosocial support, with special attention to women and children who are most vulnerable.
In addition, IHRGA is demanding for a declaration by the federal government of a security emergency in Benue and the deployment of adequate military and security personnel with clear instructions to secure Benue communities.
Stop benue killing enough is enough